Actress Saoirse Ronan plans to keep her love life under wraps

Ireland's most accomplished young actress understands that with fame come public fascination, but she's not about to let it get in the way of her personal life - particularly when it comes to dating.

The star of major hits like Atonement, Hanna, and The Lovely Bones told the Evening Herald this week that she's determined that her personal life will remain separate from her life as a famous actress.

'My personal life is private and the thing for me is that people know me for the films that I'm in, more so than who I am. But at the same time, I'm not going to completely put up a barrier. I get that people are interested in who I am and I think it's nice to know who a person is, I can understand it.

'But I certainly wouldn't be giving away my family secrets or anything. The love life seems to be such a fascination for the media now, too. If someone has done enough interesting things then you shouldn't need to know about that. And I don't think it's that interesting, to be honest," she explained.

Ronan, 17, is currently working on her next film - a vampire tale called Byzantium currently filming in Ireland with Neil Jordan at the helm. It's a development Ronan says she's happy about - it means she gets to go home for Christmas, a blessing after several busy years of globetrotting from project to project.

Being at home even allows hereto go shopping in Dublin where the paparazzi actually leave her alone.

'I don't get loads of attention. People will recognize me but they will just be like, 'ah yeah',' she says.